8 Ways To Make Your Blog Stand Out From the Crowd

When every other blogger in your niche is vying for the attention of the same people as you – how can you stand out?

Your content deserves attention but how can you get it?

You need to create memorable experiences and you need to do all you can to create the best first impression possible.

In this post, you’ll discover some of the most effective ways to help your blog cut through the noise.

Let’s dive right in:

1. Publish epic content

Here’s the harsh truth:

Nobody cares about your story – they only care what you can do for them.

In time they’ll begin to care about your story but when you’re just starting out? You need to make waves. You need to make your content better than anything else out there.

If you can become the best source of information in your niche, people will remember your blog.

What is epic content? Well, that’s hard to say because it all comes down to what other bloggers in your niche are publishing. Use them as the bench mark and create something better.

Epic blog content requires a lot more time to create but it can help you in a number of ways. For example:

And when the epic content you create is evergreen, it will serve you for years to come. Especially if you repurpose that content into other formats.

As an example, just take a look at my article on content strategy published at Startup Bonsai.

When a lot of bloggers are publishing a large number of smaller posts, publishing fewer and more in-depth pieces of content can help to set you apart.

But, epic content is more than just writing a long article. Don’t focus on word counts. Instead, work to create something that will be incredibly useful and detailed for your readers.

Sure, plenty of epic posts will be extremely long because of the detail involved, but the length of the content is not the main reason it works.

2. Use high quality images and graphics

Using high quality graphics is one of the best ways to stand out and set a great first impression.

Conversely, having low quality graphics will have the opposite affect.

So, given the visual nature of blogs and social media platforms, high quality graphics are a must.

The benefits go further because great imagery will help you get more shares and help you earn backlinks. When people see you using great imagery, you may find that they use you as an example in their content.

Here’s the good news:

You don’t have to be a professional designer or have expensive software to create great images for your blog.

There are plenty of stock image websites you can use to source images. For example, I’ve been using a lot of royalty free vector illustrations from sites like Undraw.

A free image editor like Canva is a great starting point because of it’s selection of templates. You could sift through stock image websites to source graphics & illustrations then drop them into Canva, overlay some text and make a few other tweaks.

This works especially well with royalty free vector illustrations from sites like Undraw.

Alternatively, if you’ve got some budget to play with, you could outsource 100% of the image design process to a monthly design service like Design Pickle. I do this for most of my sites because it saves me a lot of hours.

What if you want more complex graphics such as infographics? An image design tool like Venngage can make this super easy.

3. Have a great logo or no logo

You need to make a great first impression. Your logo, and your overall branding is a great way to do this.

One of the main issues a lot of blogs have is the logo.

I see plenty of blogs where the logo looks looks horrible or it’s almost impossible to read.

The best way to go is a simple logo that’s eye-catching yet easy to read.

I’m not a designer so I always outsource logo design work to a pro like Obus88 over at Fiverr – he specialises in minimal logos. All his logo concepts are hand crafted and not cookie cutter like most others on Fiverr.

He’s the designer who created the new ProfitBlitz logo.

What if you don’t have budget to hire a designer for a logo? If you’re a designer, you’ll have no problem but if you aren’t a designer – forget the logo for the time being.

If you can’t have a great logo you should just go with simple text.

This may sound odd but not having a logo is actually going to create a better first impression than having a bad logo. In which case, just opt for some text that’s easy to read. You can always add a logo later.

4. Take advantages of your strengths and experiences

While there may be a lot of other blogs that cover the same sort of topics that you do, each blogger will have their own unique experiences and strengths to bring to the table.

Think about yourself and what unique experiences and strengths you have that others do not.

Being unique in a crowded niche is not easy but some bloggers manage to do it well. For example, Noah Kagan of OKDork has some incredible experience to lean on that most in the marketing space don’t have. He’s built 2 multi-million dollar businesses, was #30 at Facebook and #4 at Mint.

Noah Kagan of OK Dork

This experience reflects in his content too. He has connections with other influential entrepreneurs who join him on his podcast. Ultimately, the content he creates leverages his strengths and experiences in a way that allows him to cut through the noise.

5. Deliver practical and useful content

You’ve probably heard the phrase “great content” being thrown around a lot.

Everyone has a slightly different idea of what that means and in general you’re going to need to do something more specific…. create practical and useful content.

When people take the lessons they learn from your content and implement them, then see positive results – you instantly become memorable.

Your ultimate goal should be to help your readers rather than simply publishing content that looks good.

In order to do this, you’ll need to get a clear understanding of the challenges your audience is facing. Then produce actionable content that helps people to solve those challenges.

6. Display your personality

Another great way to stand out is to connect with your readers on a personal level. When readers feel a personal connection to you, they will be far more likely to subscribe, or at least return to your blog later.

There are a few key places where you can connect with your readers (or your target audience):

  • Blog comments – Got comments? Reply to every single one.
  • Comments on social media posts – Consider the social networks your audience frequents and ensure you’re active on those networks.
  • In communities such as Facebook groups – You may also want to create your own Facebook group to help create a community around your blog.

You can also display your personality more within the content you write and let people get to know you by creating an awesome about page.

If you need help creating an about page, check out this post by Lily Ugbaja for some pointers.

7. Your blog needs to look great

The design of your blog matters more than you may think.

It has a significant impact on user experience and it has the power to make your blog more memorable.

Here’s the good news:

You don’t need to hire a professional designer to get your blog looking great because there are plenty of themes and templates you can use.

And if you use WordPress, you’ll have an almost limitless selection to choose from between free WordPress themes and paid themes.

You could go for StudioPress themes that look great out of the box but are a bit limited in terms of customisation, or you could go for a theme with limitless customisation options like Divi from Elegant Themes.

The ability to customise your theme extensively means you can craft a blog design that stands out from everyone else in your niche.

8. Remove the fluff

A lot of bloggers get the feeling they should be writing & publishing new content frequently but the truth is you don’t have to.

The pressure to create new content frequently can sometimes lead to publishing a lot of fluff or filler posts that offer little value to readers.

Instead, cut out the fluff and focus your time on creating the best possible content you can. If you only publish one or two great posts each week instead of 5-6 filler posts, you’ll be better off and so will your readers.

Putting it all together

As a blogger, your aim should be to create great experiences and be memorable.

Craft content that is truly helpful and let your personality shine through in everything you do. Right from the content you create to your blog’s design.